A drunk driver plowed through a huge crowd of people at Austin's SXSW festival at approximately 12:30 pm last night, killing two and injuring at least 23, KXAN reports:

Police say the suspect sped off, after being stopped on suspicion of DWI.

The driver almost hit a police officer with the car while trying to get away, according to police. The suspect then went the wrong way on Ninth Street, plowed through a barricade on Red River Street, and hit the people in the crowd.

The suspect then went through 10th and 11th streets before hitting a van. That’s when police say the driver jumped out of the car and began to run, but police managed to use a Taser and arrest the suspect.

The Associated Press reported that the driver was drunk and was evading arrest when his car crashed into people gathered on a busy street, injuring about two dozen of them. The Austin police chief, Art Acevedo, was quoted by The A.P. as saying that two people were killed on a moped that was hit as revelers were leaving a club at around 12:30 a.m. He told The A.P. that the driver had jumped out of his car and had tried to run away after hitting a taxi.

The Austin Police Department wrote on Twitter than an individual had been arrested. “We owe it to the victims and their families to gather the evidence we need to bring them justice,” Chief Acevedo was quoted as saying on the police’s Twitter account.

Our thoughts go out to the victims of the accident and their loved ones.

I can't believe after all the times things like this have happened (whether intoxicated or old people), they didn't put up better barricades. In Santa Monica, now, they use heavy duty concrete barricades to block the streets off during festivals and farmers markets (after the massive incident a few years back.) Mostly concrete K-Rails that the highway department uses anyway to aid in highway construction so it isn't even an added cost.

It's true for all of LA too.

Posted by: unruly | Mar 13, 2014 11:46:11 AM

Unruly, they had barricades. Austin has been hosting festivals for decades downtown. Red River is a fire lane - they had cleared the street shortly before for that exact reason.

This was an intentional act. He almost hit a uniformed police officer at the barricades. If someone is determined to do wrong, they will.

Posted by: Daniel` | Mar 13, 2014 2:50:48 PM

@JAY:
It's two counts of capital murder at this point. There are other charges, but those are the top two.

Also, KXAN just ran a piece with a Towleroad writer currently in Austin who was uncomfortably close to the incident.